Tag: nature

Photo of the Week!

This time I bring you a shot I took on a little mushroom photo tour with a local photography group. It was tons of fun, even though it was raining the whole time. But the rain is part of what made the experience different and interesting.

All of the leaves and ground cover were soaked, as was I after I chose to lay in the wet mud to take this picture. Before I go out to take more forest floor macro shots I need to invest in a small tarp or some rain pants.

The Mushroom

As for the mushroom, it’s a strange looking fungal beast. I don’t know what kind it is, but it looks gnarly. The rain made it appear extra slimy. I think mushrooms are beautiful. They are so different from other forms of life that we, as humans, are used to. (like puppies and lettuce)

They are like strange alien things from the covers of 70s Yes albums.

This one even has crazy dark horn/nub things covering the cap. I love it!

And this time I have a wonderful shot for you from the first time I hiked Heliotrope Ridge. After the first major creek crossing, the trail goes up and up steeply for a ways, following the creek you just crossed upstream. After a bit you come across this view:

This week I give you a picture with it’s focus flopped around. Usually, picturesque mountains in photographs are the center of attention, but in this shot I wanted to blur out the background mountain and put your full attention on the evergreen branch floating in front.

I hope you’ve been liking the black and white photos, because this week, I have one more for you.

This week I bring you…

Mount Baker

I shoot digital, so all of my images are initially in color. This gives me the choice at processing time:

Does this work better as a color or black and white image?

Most of the time I end up going with color. I do love color photography. But sometimes the color in an image does not add anything to it.

In this case there were greens in the foreground trees and very muted early sunset colors painting the western slope. But the true star of this photo is the volcano; the sharp jut of stone and ice hoisting through the clouds.

I felt the contrast of the fluffy clouds, smooth white glaciers and snow fields, and ultra dark stone and trees told more of a story.

I hope you like this week’s image, and I promise next week’s shot will be in color.

It’s time for the third installment of my Pacific North West Photo of the Week! Not every shot needs to be of a sweeping landscape with a forest, mountains, and grandiose vistas. Sometimes we need to look up close at the things around us in order to fully appreciate our setting.

This week I present an image to you that is not a full forest. It is, instead only a tiny detail of one tree. This shot I call Forest View.

The Details

After finishing up a little photo walk through a local park I noticed how the light was catching just a tiny bit of some branches. I love how the colors interacted with the center of the scene and how the light pulls your eye to each of the little bright points at the ends of the branches.

This image shows how even at the lowest level the leaves of a tree are a forest in itself. On each level deeper and closer you get to a subject, the more the subject will reveal to you. Sometimes I have to remind myself of this when I feel that I’ve exhausted all possible ways to capture a setting.

So remember, don’t forget to get down and look closely at the most mundane things. You never know what will be revealed to you.

Of course, you can see evergreen trees anywhere, but this image is representative of the area I live in. There are so many trees everywhere here, including many evergreens of different types. I am sure that, in the future, I will post some pictures of other local trees.

It is time for my second entry to my Pacific North West photo of the week!

I call this one Mt Baker from the San Juan Islands.

This week I am sharing a shot from a recent boat outing to the San Juan Islands. We were heading west between a couple of the islands and directly behind the boat was this amazing view of Mt. Baker. I loved how the waves behind the boat led my eye up to the mountain.

After a few weeks of moving to Bellingham, WA from western Oklahoma we are finally starting to settle in. We’ve gotten all of the important official stuff done, like license plates and new driver’s licenses, and now have time to truly explore the area.

There is a small park fairly close to me with a small trail loop through a bit of forest. It’s called Cordatta Park. It’s not a giant park as compared to many of the other parks in the Bellingham area, but it is still a nice walk through a natural setting.

Here is the image I’ve chose for this new series called my Pacific North West Photo of the Week. Each Monday I will share with you one of my recent shots taken somewhere up here in #UpperLeftUSA.

I call this image ‘Old Forest Stump’. One thing that Washington has that Western Oklahoma really doesn’t is large trees. And, even when these trees die, they are still a fountain of new life. If left, old stumps of fallen or cut trees become the base for other plants and trees to sprout.

Social

Search

About This Site

Welcome to my home base on the internet. This space is the hub of all of my digital activities. Here you can find updates on my writings, photography tips and tricks along with images of my own, and the occasional technical post.